When Adam Peaty walked through the doors at City of Derby in January 2009 awaiting him was Mel Marshall.<\/p>\n
Mel is a former Great Britain swimmer who won world, European and Commonwealth medals as well as competing at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics.<\/p>\n
After retiring from competition Mel turned her hand to coaching and now leads the Derby squad.<\/p>\n
Teri McKeever led the United States women\u2019s swimming team at the 2012 Olympics and Lisa Bate heads up the programme at London Aquatics Centre but coaching is generally still a male domain.<\/p>\n
Adam and Mel\u2019s partnership is working wonders with the breaststroker holding the 50m and 100m world records and the World Championships in Kazan looming.<\/p>\n
Of whether Mel offers a different dimension as a female coach, Adam muses: \u201cThere is not that much difference really, I can\u2019t really tell the difference. I don\u2019t know if it is different coaches or gender.<\/p>\n
\u201cMel pumps me up to the max \u2013 that is what she is good at, she knows how to get that 100% trigger on me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adam had encountered male coaches before joining Derby and recalls:<\/p>\n
\u201cMy old coaches were really aggressive but did me good.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore races when I was younger I was like \u2018yeah let\u2019s absolutely annihilate it\u2019 but she has taught me how to think smarter now instead of going hard at everything, you go hard at everything and smart as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the main areas is that it\u2019s not only what you do in the pool but it\u2019s also the other 18 hours a day. There\u2019s no point going swimming, do a really hard set and then go to a party or whatever.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pair had only been working together a short time when their fledgling partnership was tested, Adam walking out only to soon return to the fold following an apology to Mel.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a right little nuisance,\u201d he admits.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think having a male coach kind of brought that side out in me and I was only with Mel three months when that happened. With a male coach you can have a good argument I think but with a woman I think you just really negotiate.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t do it now but I think she calmed me down and got me on the right track.<\/p>\n
\u201cI need to know why I do stuff: I still ask her now why I need to do things but I think she understands why I need that because that is my personality.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore I was like I don\u2019t want to do that, I wouldn\u2019t ask why.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mel is forthright with a head down, get on with it type attitude.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve just got to have balls. It doesn\u2019t matter. I\u2019ve always been the first girl to do everything else.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was the first girl in my area to play boys\u2019 football when I was at primary school. I was the only girl on my course at school in terms of a\u00a0 sports course so just get stuck in, it doesn\u2019t matter. A different dimension but you\u2019ve just got to have balls.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When Adam Peaty walked through the doors at City of Derby in January 2009 awaiting him was Mel Marshall. Mel is a former Great Britain swimmer who won world, European …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1284,"featured_media":16234,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10090],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n